Day 8: Paris

Today we had tickets to take the elevator up the Eiffel Tower at 11:30. We got up, headed down to the corner boulangerie and had a pastry and coffee. It was now time for our introduction to the Paris metro system. Our neighborhood had a stop that connected with where we wanted to be and it all went off without a hitch. We arrived at the EiffelTower with plenty of time to get through security. Fortunately, we had the foresight to buy advance tickets for earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the lift (elevator) early and ended up having to kill over an hour fenced in beneath the legs of the tower. By the time we rode to the mid-level, took in the views and returned to the ground maybe an hour later, the lines were crazy. The tower was truly a marvel. I liked imagining what it must have been like to watch it grow over the Paris skyline at the dawning of the 19th century. It took two years to build, 1887-1889. Did you know that Gustave Eiffel designed the tower for the 1889 World Exhibition and it was intended to be taken down, but never was? At the time, people thought it was a ridiculous design, yet it remains standing, the tallest structure in Paris. After our Eiffel Tower visit, we walked to the Rue Cler Market area to find a sidewalk cafe for lunch. We had a nice meal and then followed a path along the river Seine to our starting point so that we could visit the Musée des Egouts. In English, that means “sewer tour,” and the kids could not wait!

Sewer Tour

The sewer tour is an underground introduction to the current, yet historical, Paris sewer system. The museum wound its way down tunnels below the streets of Paris in a tiny section of the 1,200 miles of the Parisian sewer tunnels. The highlight was the “chocolate river.” It smelled delicious (not so much)!

To round out the day, we walked a million miles to find to mysterious spot that we could get on one of the hop on-hop off busses. The plan was to take a spin through all 10 stops and then Metro back to the hotel for some rest, but two and a half hours later, we were only at stop 6, so we gave up at the closest spot to our hotel and packed it in for the night.After resting awhile, Kiki insisted that she was starving, so the two of us walked to a local variety store, Monoprix, to see what was available. We eneded up settling in at a creperie, where I had a lovely savory crepe with cheese, ham and mushrooms. Kiki decided that she was only hungry if she was eating icecream. So, to help her out, I choked down a raspberry & hazelnut chocolate ice cream cone topped with a sweet raspberry macaron. Oh la la!It was a lovely way to round our a busy day.Bonsoir!